Every year, tens of thousands of young people scrape together money to obtain J-1 visas and travel to the United States, participating in a cultural exchange program that promises immersion in American life.
But many of them have suffered abuse and mistreatment at the hands of their American employers in a poorly regulated program that is ripe for exploitation, a New York Times investigation has found.
Some of the employers have forced visa workers to pack dog food on assembly lines in Iowa, hose out pig pens in Nebraska and pressure renters into signing leases in run-down apartment buildings in New York.
The Times spent months reviewing thousands of pages of legal records and regulatory documents and talking to labor lawyers, researchers and J-1 visa workers. The investigation focused on the New York region, which draws more of the workers than nearly anywhere else in the country, and on the visa holders who experts say are most susceptible to abuse: seasonal workers, interns and trainees.
Here are four takeaways from the investigation:
People on the J-1 visa were injured on the job after being sent to dangerous workplaces.
Dozens of visa workers from around the world came in recent years to Kurt Weiss Greenhouses on Long Island, one of the largest plant nurseries in the nation, where they helped grow, harvest and transport the millions of flowers and succulents the company ships to stores around the country.
But the visa workers were unaware of the company’s safety record — one fatal accident and more than 35 injuries were recorded there from 2014 to 2017 — and they were expecting advanced training, good pay and ample time off.
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The post 4 Takeaways From the Times Investigation Into the J-1 Visa Program appeared first on New York Times.
